The City of St. John's has pleaded guilty and been convicted of two breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection with a fatal accident on the Outer Ring Road on July 5, 2011.
The city was originally acquitted during a trial in 2014, but the Crown appealed, and the case was sent back to provincial court for a new trial.
In provincial court in St. John's Monday, the city changed its plea, and was fined $23,000 and ordered to pay $37,000 for a public education program dealing with highway safe.
The city's lawyer, Nick Avis, told the court the $60,000 has already been paid. The amount had been ordered by the judge at the original trial, and was upheld by Judge Lori Marshall Monday. She ruled it was clear the violations led to dangerous conditions.
A provincial road inspector, Joe English, 51, was killed, and two men injured, when they were struck by an SUV in 2011.
According to an agreed statement of facts, the driver "was distracted or not paying attention … braked abruptly causing him to lose control, crashed and struck the three employees."
There were nine men, including English, on the busy highway that day trying to determine why the asphalt was deteriorating so quickly.
Some worked for the city, others with the Department of Transportation and Works, and Irving Oil.
They used three vehicles to take them to several sites they inspected. Only one, a Department of Transportation and Works van, was equipped with an amber flashing light bar.
The statement of facts goes on to say the city admits, "It did not have a system in place to ensure that its employees were properly supervised to ensure they followed the required occupational health and safety policies and procedures."
And the city, "acknowledges it cannot establish due diligence."
The statement also says that prior to conducting the site visits, "there was no discussion of safety protocols or procedures, either generally or specifically."
Earlier decisions
In December 2014, the Department of Transportation and Works and the City of St. John's were found guilty of breaching occupational health and safety laws, leading to English's death.
In May of that year, Irving pleaded guilty to violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and did not go to trial.